


Even Salamandrians Get Sick

by FangirlShayla



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Casey Jones is Mentioned, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Karai is Mentioned, Mighty Mutanimals Are Mentioned, Mona Lisa is mentioned, Original Character-centric, Other Original Characters Are Mentioned - Freeform, Shinigami is Mentioned, Sick Character, The Turtles Are Mentioned, Unrequited Love, Writing Exercise, Y'Gythgba is Mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22036222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangirlShayla/pseuds/FangirlShayla
Summary: This was more or less a writing exercise I did for myself with my TMNT OCs. The plot is Xyler getting sick and Serena having to take care of him; plain and simple, although it's longer than it probably should be.
Relationships: Original Character/Original Character, Serena Trails/Xylirathine





	Even Salamandrians Get Sick

“Are you sure you should be going out, Xyler? You look like you’re going to collapse any minute.” 

It’s true, Xyler hadn’t felt like his best when he woke up that morning; his head was fuzzy, his cheeks were coloured bright red, and he was coughing and sneezing up a storm ever since he got out of bed. Despite it all, the Salamandrian still insisted on going through his daily routine. Including preparing for his patrol later that day. 

“Yes, I’m sure.” He growled, fumbling around with his weapons as his shaky hands tried attaching them to his belt. 

Xyler had never been sick before; he thought that he was made to be immune to any common illness. But then again, he’s never spent so much time on a foreign planet. 

Of course, his teammates were worried about him, and were strongly advising that he shouldn’t be going anywhere in his condition. But that didn’t stop him from gearing up and slowly making his way to the exit. 

“Where are you going?” 

“Patrol… Serengela needs me.” He said through a dry throat, heading towards the door. 

“You won’t make it five steps outside.” 

Xyler raised his arm to his mouth and unintentionally coughed in response. “I’ll be fine…” 

It took Xyler five more minutes than usual, but he managed to make it to his and Serena’s meeting spot for their afternoon patrol. Aside from being late, Serena could visibly see that something was wrong. “Xyler, are you sick?” 

“I’ll be fine…” He claimed, stifling a cough. Trying to hide his current condition. 

Serena wasn’t buying it. “Are you sure? You don’t look too good.” 

“I’m fine… Besides, some fresh air should do me some good.” 

Serena and Xyler began patrol, but got about ten minutes in before Xyler had started to trail behind. Serena noticed that he was definitely more lethargic today, but trusted his ‘fresh air’ excuse — that is until Xyler started to look like he was going to throw up. 

His normally royal blue complexion was now paler and he was starting to sweat, at least more than he should be from running around on rooftops in the afternoon. 

Once Serena actually acknowledged that Xyler couldn’t keep up, the Salamandrian dropped the ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ act and kneeled down to take a breath. Serena stooped down to his new level and pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. 

“You feel like you’re on fire.” Serena observed, suddenly Xyler shook his head away from her touch. The last thing he wanted was for Serena to start treating him like a fragile child. “Maybe we should cut patrol short.” She suggested, a fair amount of concern in her voice. 

“But- “ 

“No buts, I can’t stand seeing you suffer like this.” Serena countered before draping one of Xyler’s arms over her shoulder. He would’ve fought it, he would’ve told her he was okay, but it’s not like he had the strength to stop her right now. 

With the Salamandrian on her side, Serena realized that they weren’t too far from her own apartment. She leapt across a few rooftops before landing on the fire escape that connected to her bedroom window; it was a little tougher to travel with the extra weight, so Serena made sure she took the hard hits when they were landing instead of letting him flop around like a rag doll. 

She opened her bedroom window and carried Xyler inside, steadily lying him down on the mattress and making sure a pillow was situated comfortably under his head. 

“Stay right here.” The terrapin commanded before zipping out of the room. Xyler could have fallen asleep right there; the room was dim enough and the bed was incredibly soft. But before he could drift off, the door opened again and Serena came through with a small cup of hot tea. She used her foot to close the door again and stood by the Salamandrian’s side. 

Xyler, knowing what the cup was for, tried to prop himself up on his elbows. But he just couldn’t find the strength; his energy was at a new-found low. Serena noticed his struggle and helped him up with one arm settled under his back while her other hand kept the cup. 

Once Xyler was sitting up, Serena took her arm away from his back, rested the underside of his hand in her open palm and helped him grip the cup. “Drink.” 

Not having a choice, Xyler raise the rim of the cup to his lips and took the smallest sip. The unfamiliar beverage left a bitter taste on his tongue, but the heat did soothe his dry throat. So, he wasn’t about to complain about something so insignificant as taste. 

Xyler calmly assured her he could lift a cup, so she let go and left his side once again. As Xyler took a second sip then set the cup down on the bedside table, Serena was rummaging around in her closet. She then eventually emerged with a heavy, pink blanket. 

“Now, I’m going to finish patrol while you stay here and get some rest.” 

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Xyler mentioned before his throat decided to start another coughing fit. Serena pressed her hand on his chest once his coughing had ceased, and settled him back down onto the bed; deep down, Xyler didn’t have any qualms about this. In fact, under better circumstances, he probably would’ve been enjoying it: being in Serengela’s room, on her bed, while she was taking care of him like he was the most important thing in the world to her. 

Thankfully, he could blame the colour in his cheeks on the sickness, and not the fact that Serena’s hand still lingered on his chest after he lay back down. 

Serena pulled the blanket over the Salamandrian’s shoulders before replying, “I’m not babysitting you. I’m looking after you. There’s a difference. Now I expect you to still be here when I get back.” She said with a wink and a smile. 

Xyler opened his mouth to protest, but Serena had escaped out the window before a word could come out. He sighed and closed his eyes, letting his head sink back into the pillow. Before he knew it, he completely lost consciousness and fell asleep. 

**…**

Xylirathine woke up with no recollection of where he was. In his mind, he figured he would be in his own room. However, a few seconds of feeling a softer-than-usual surface underneath him quickly dispelled that mindset. 

He blinked his eyes open and looked around; a bedroom with pink walls, and a pink blanket covered 75 percent of his body. There was a table beside the bed with a cup of warm tea near the edge closest to him. Now he remembered: Serengela caught him sick on patrol, so she took him to her room to rest. 

Xyler turned his head to the side, the clock on the bedside table read 1:30 pm. He knows Serena started patrol at 12, so either she forgot he was in her room, or she took the liberty of making patrol longer; since it was just her at the moment. Admittedly, the nap did make him feel better; he definitely had a bit more energy now. Xyler propped himself up on his elbows and reached over to grab the cup, swigging down the rest of the contents on one go. _‘Still bitter…’_

Xyler set the cup back where it was and lay down on the bed, remembering what Serena told him before she left: 

_“_ _… Now I expect you to still be here when I get back.”_

Considering Serena’s track record, Xyler thought it was best to take her seriously and obey her command to stay in bed until she came back. 

After a few minutes of consciously resting with his eyes closed, Xyler began to notice things within the room; certain smells that brought on certain feelings. He could recognize her natural scent mixed with the perfume she wore on a constant basis; a perfume that could only be described as ‘sweet’. No specific fruit or flower, just a very sweet smell; a smell Xyler knew by heart at this point. The more he thought about it, the more Xyler felt that Serena could be right in the room. He could recall the warmth of her hand on his chest, her soft voice as she told him to ‘lie down and relax’. 

The Salamandrian grumbled, scrunching his nose, displeased with himself. _‘Why now?’_

Then again, he was in Serena’s room, lying on her bed; what else did he expect? 

He opened his eyes to avoid having his mind overtake him with impure images and allowed his other senses to take over. 

The Salamandrian began to gaze around the room, trying to pick apart Serena’s personality by the things in the space. After all, he mostly only ever saw her in a business setting nowadays; protecting the city from Graknok and whatnot. He wanted to get to know her, and if this was an opportunity, he’d take it. 

The first thing he noticed was a day-planner on her bedside table, right beside the now-empty cup of tea Serena had brewed for him. _‘Of course. She’s always been so organized.’_

Xyler began to wonder what kind of dates were written in that planner: what dates were important to her? A part of him wanted to take a peek, see if there was anything related to himself in there, but a greater part of him resisted. He has no business knowing Serena’s schedule. 

Above the table on the wall was a billboard of Polaroid pictures, specifically of her friends and family. He could name the turtles, April, Kimberly, Monica, her parents, her brother. No Casey; made sense, she never really liked him. No Karai or Shinigami; they probably didn’t like taking pictures. Unfortunately, Xyler didn’t see himself up there either. Now that he thought about it, he never actually took any pictures with Serena. He came to the conclusion that she just didn’t have any to put up. 

_‘Mental note:_ _take a few picture_ _s_ _with Serengela…’_

Anything else Xyler could see in the room were posters from, what Xyler guessed, tv shows and forms of media Serena was interested in. He even noticed that Serena had a small diagram of the Milky Way Galaxy and all its planets; the ones that Earth knew about, anyway. It made Xyler smile as he thought how small that galaxy must be to Serena now, since she’s explored space far beyond what that poster had to offer. 

Suddenly, the bedroom door creaked opened and Xyler stiffened in fear; if it was an enemy, he certainly wasn’t in any condition to fight them; and he suspected that Serena would come back through the window. 

Thankfully, once the door had completely opened, he discovered that it was just Serena’s mother; Linda Trails. She had met Xyler previously on Serena’s birthday, so he wasn’t worried about scaring her. However, she did seem surprised that the Salamandrian was there at all. 

Xyler explained that Serena brought him here to rest because he was feeling under the weather, and admitted that he didn’t have the courage to fight Serena on it. 

“But I am feeling better rested now.” Xyler told her while slowly climbing out of the bed and inching toward the window. “I should probably head out.” 

Xyler could barely crack the window open before he was hit with another coughing fit. 

“If you’re feeling sick, you have no business being outside.” Linda insisted, walking over to the Salamandrian and gently taking his arm; in a strangely similar fashion to how Serena did earlier. “Why don’t you come downstairs, I’ll make you some soup I make for Serena when she gets sick.” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to bother you.” 

“No bother at all.” 

Xyler gave in and followed Linda downstairs into the main room of the apartment; the Trails’ women were dragging him around a lot today. Linda sat Xyler down at an island table within the kitchen. 

“You’re sure I’m not imposing?” Xyler questioned as he watched Linda rummage around the kitchen, picking out various tools and ingredients from the fridge and other cupboards. The last thing he wanted to do was give Serena’s mother a preoccupation if she already had stuff to do; she was a mother after all. Xyler thought she must have more important things to do, right? 

“Not at all, I could use some company anyway.” Linda assured him as she began to bring out a steel pot from a cupboard near the stove. 

Xyler looked down at the surface of the table, tracing circles with his finger. He was informed of Serena’s parents’ situation a while back: David lived with Ray, and Serena spent most of her time with the turtles and himself. Xyler thought Linda must get really lonely. 

_‘Mental note_ _number_ _two; tell_ _Serengela_ _to visit her mother more, or visit myself.’_

“WHERE IS HE?!” 

Is what caught the attention of both Xyler and Linda. A pair of hasty footsteps travelled down the stairs as a frantic Serena slid into the main room. “Mom, have you seen-?!” 

Serena paused once she saw the Salamandrian she was looking for seated at the kitchen table. The female terrapin rested a hand on her chest and took a deep sigh of relief; the worried frown on her lips quickly replaced with a content smile. 

“Xyler? He’s right here, sweetie.” Linda proclaimed with a smile, knowing she was relaying already-known information. 

“Well I can see that now.” 

“I’m sorry, Serengela,’ Xyler apologized. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I woke up from my nap, and then your mother came in and brought me downstairs-” 

“You don’t need to explain,” Serena stopped him, raising a hand. “as long as your safe.” 

Serena then walked over to interact with her mom, and Xyler smiled at the two; he really admired the relationship between Serengela and Linda, and he noticed so many similarities between them. They were both kind, willing to help anyone they met, wouldn’t take no for an answer, and would do anything for the ones they love. 

What Xyler wouldn’t give to be in a family like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Comments and critiques are always appreciated!


End file.
